New tenor on tenure

Baylor can’t shake faculty flirtations with secularism | Gene Edward Veith

The tenure system gives university professors lifetime job security. It is also a way to get rid of professors. Typically, new faculty members are hired for a several-year probationary period. Then they marshal their publications, teaching evaluations, and other accomplishments, and apply for tenure. If they do not get it, they have to leave.

So it came as a surprise that Baylor denied tenure to Francis Beckwith, one of its best-known Christian scholars—despite his 11 books, 28 scholarly articles, a raft of teaching awards, and election as president of the Evangelical Theological Society.

Baylor's previous president Robert Sloan had put forth an ambitious program to make the Baptist school in Waco, Texas, a world-class institution distinctly Christian in its scholarship. Mr. Sloan brought on board many top-notch scholars devoted to integrating faith and learning, such as intelligent design theorist William Dembski and pro-life legal scholar Mr. Beckwith.